Fitness Pro Live

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author:  Turbulence Training 

If you depend on classic aerobic cardio for fat loss, you probably spend 30 minutes on a machine trying to burn a set number of calories.

But does that work?

Does burning 500 calories per day cause you to lose 1 pound of fat per week?

Well, according to science, it should. But if it did, you probably wouldn’t still be reading this article.

Back in the day, I used to write a column on fat loss myths for Men’s Fitness magazine. Here’s a classic weight loss topic I covered.

Myth: I need to burn 500 calories each workout to lose fat.

Truth: Possibly one of the worst inventions for fat loss was the calorie-counting monitor on treadmills, elliptical machines, and stairmasters.

Because of these, millions of men and women now obsess about the number of calories burned per session. You’ve probably even been one of those people, watching it creep up ever so slowly during a slow-cardio session. All the while knowing that you can wipe out a 30-minute, 300-calorie treadmill session with one fell swoop of the Krispy Kreme hand.

Too many people are brainwashed into thinking that if they don’t burn 300-500 calories per session, then they won’t lose fat. After all, that is what you’ve been told time and time again in those fluffy fitness/fashion magazines.

The problems with this approach to fat loss are numerous. First off, it’s difficult to say if the calorie counters are even accurate. A story on CBS news showed that cardio machines overestimate calorie burning by up to 20%.

Next, depending on slow cardio for advanced fat loss is relatively useless and at the very least, inefficient. It takes a long time for you to burn a lot of calories and one study showed that men who only used cardio training for weight loss ended up with a reduced resting metabolism. You are basically undoing the calorie burning by depending only on cardio. On the other hand, guys in the same study that used strength training didn’t suffer a reduced metabolic rate.

So what is the solution to burning fat in a faster, more efficient method?

The answer is to use strength and interval training to burn fewer calories in less exercise time, but with a more intense form of exercise.

Your body will burn more calories after exercise (when you use intervals) than it does after you do slow cardio and your metabolism will stay high. Some experts refer to this as the afterburn effect.

How do you do intervals?

Well, you could sprint or 30 seconds and rest for 90 seconds and repeat that for 6 sets – using the bike  or treadmill if you are experienced with it.

Within that short time frame the intervals will cause your muscles to go crazy with activity (I call it a metabolic turbulence). This crazy metabolism boost causes lots of calorie burning after exercise to get your body back to normal. The result is you would end up burning more fat and more calories in the post-exercise period as your body tries to get things under control.

Now there is one time where you’d want to count calories, but that is when you are counting up and determining how many calories you eat per day. Again, you can wipe out an entire workout’s work in less than a minute simply by eating garbage. Without some structure and discipline to your nutrition, there is nothing that even my programs can do to help you lose fat.

So exercise nutrition control and interval training. These are the two anti-calorie counting methods that will help you lose fat and get lean.

To Learn More and For A $4.95 Trial Offer:  Click Here

 

It’s about that time of year again.

This is when folks slowly start dropping off from their workout
program, or cheating on their diet.

And for a lot of folks, weekend eating – particularly SuperBowl
weekend eating – is to blame.

When some folks binge eat, they go looking for a “detox diet”,
thinking that will reverse all their mistakes.

But I’m not here to recommend that…no way.

Instead, I have an amazing article – perhaps his best article ever -
from fitness expert Craig Ballantyne about a simple 7-Step Detox
Diet that you can easily follow everyday…

…so that you never need to do an extreme 7-day or 2-week cleanse.

Here’s Craig to tell it like it is:

I just got back from the SuperBowl and got a chance to sit in the
front row right in the endzone. It was really cool, and I also got
a chance to see “The Who” live in concert at half-time.

But, while I was there, I had a few extra “non-compliance” meals
than normal, so it got me thinking about detox diets.

I have a pretty strong opinion about detoxing, and I put together a
simple 7-step detox diet plan that you can easily follow so that you
never have to do a 16-day detox ever.

You see, my biggest “beef” with the entire theory of “detoxing” is this…

It is simply NOT possible to EVER detox your body.

Why?

Because it’s such a vague statement.

What does “detox” mean?

How do you measure “detoxification”?

What do you even define as toxins?

And when do you officially become “detoxed”?

The answer is, “You don’t.”

It’s impossible.

After all, every single second of every day your body produces
carbon dioxide, which is a toxin.

And if you have deep belly fat, research shows that this “visceral
fat” is constantly releasing inflammatory toxins into your blood.

Every second. The more fat you have, the more toxic you are.

Plus, every breath you take includes pollutants.

And even the water that you drink may contain “toxins”.

So….what’s the real deal on detoxing?

Listen, while every “expert” is out there arguing about tiny little
details and “gurus” are trying to sell you on detoxing so they can
sell supplements, the TRUTH is that you really just need to know a
few steps to avoid getting toxic in the first place.

In my opinion, the #1 factor in living a “low toxin life” is simply
to keep as much garbage out of your body in the first place, rather
than depending on a 3-day, 7-day or even 16-day detox to be healthy.

So what do I do to prevent “toxin build-up” in the first place?

Well, I live the Turbulence Training Lifestyle of  course,  starting with my 7 Step Detox Diet. 

1) Start each day with a blender drink of berries, spinach or other
greens, raw nuts (such as walnuts – rich in healthy fats), and other
ingredients packed with antioxidants and healthy fats.

2) For lunch, have a large green salad with spinach, beans, broccoli,
peppers, avocado, onions, etc.

3) Eat an organic apple a day. Certain fruits (i.e. apples, peaches,
cherries, and strawberries) and vegetables have a higher exposure to
pesticides, and you should choose organic when possible.

4) Eat RAW snacks only – of  fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Try using
this one simple rule and limit all of your between meal snacks to
raw fruit, raw vegetables, and/or raw nuts and I promise you’ll drop
the pounds because you’ll be full on a smaller number of calories.

5) Drink Green Tea (2-3 cups) and filtered water (3 liters) instead
of beverages that contain calories or chemicals.

6) Limit animal protein intake to only 2 servings per day. On most
days, I’ll one of the following: an “after workout” chocolate milk,
organic eggs in the morning, or occasionally I’ll have high quality
meat at dinner.

You don’t need to be a full vegetarian to live a longer life, but
you should probably avoid eating meat 5 times per day, like people
in Chicago.

(Hey Chicago, don’t get mad at me for that…it was a born-and-raised
Chicago native who told me 5 servings of meat per day was the
average Chicago meat consumption.)

7) Minimize or completely eliminate alcohol intake.

While research does show that for men, up to 2 drinks per day may
help cardiovascular health (and for women, up to one drink per day),
I’m not about to recommend you start drinking.

After all, if you go above those limits, you start to destroy your
health…and you risk addiction. Alcohol killed my father, and I
don’t want to see the same thing happen to you. Tread cautiously
with the booze.

So that’s it. A simple 7-Step Detox Diet Plan.

By the way, it goes without saying that you should avoid:

- cigarettes
- trans-fats
- excessive amounts of sugar
- refined grains
- and 7-11 nacho cheese

Right?

Of course.

And you should be exercising to lose the belly fat…using proven
methods, such as interval training – which is proven to beat long,
slow cardio when it comes to burning dangerous belly fat.

Plus, you should be using Turbulence Training resistance supersets
to burn more calories and sculpt your body.

If you’ve never used Turbulence Training, you can try it out today
for less than the cost of a Superbowl hot dog.

Click here to get Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks:

=> Turbulence Training Trial

Simply follow those 7 nutrition guidelines and use the short TT
workouts to cut out as many toxins from your body – without detoxing.

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

PS – I also believe you should avoid toxic relationships…

…so you need to take a hard look at the people you surround
yourself with in life.

Do you have the right work friends?
Are you in the right relationships?
Do you spend enough time with the right family members?

Or are they toxic too?

Remember – you need social support for success in life and in fat
loss…so surround yourself with positive people, like the good
folks on the TT Member’s forum.

If you need to dump the toxic folks and get positive social support,
we’d love to see you on the forum and help you out.

You will get a free 3-month TT membership access to the forum when
you try out Turbulence Training for only $4.95 today:

=> Turbulence Training  Trial

Please click that link to get started losing fat & getting rid of
the toxic baggage in your life.